Hermione Granger and the Order of the Phoenix

"Turn over you papers," said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "You may begin..."

In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control, of goblin riots of the eighteenth century?

What a ridiculously simple question, Hermione thought as she quickly wrote out her answer. If anyone listened to a word of Professor Binns' lectures...Hermione shot a glance over at Ron and Harry. They never listened to a word of Binns' lectures, and she didn't think they prepared very well for this exam. They had been so worried about Professor McGonagall and were already quite tuckered out from the strain of all their other O.W.L.s. Harry was slowly writing out an answer, his face contorted with exhaustion and he looked as though writing every single world caused him pain. Ron was just staring blankly at the parchment in front of him, mouth quite agape. Hermione fought back a sigh as she moved on to the next question; neither of them had a clue.

She found herself continuing to shoot glances over at her best friends when she finished every question, praying that they were doing as well as she was. She felt that this exam was quite simple, honestly. Everything had been covered in her notes, and Harry had read them over just this morning, and Ron had the night before. If they had retained any knowledge at all...

Hermione sighed. They were doomed.

Harry was still valiantly trying to write away, but he looked sleepier than ever. Ron was finally writing on his piece of parchment but the look on his face clearly conveyed that he had no idea what he was scribbling down.

Come on, Hermione, she chided herself. Focus.

She managed to stay focused on her exam for quite a bit of time before becoming distracted again. It was as though she could feel Ron's eyes on her, and she had pretty good idea why. He was probably trying to think of a way for her to give him the answers from across the room. She tried her best to ignore him, but when he continued to persist, she finally looked up across the room to give him a get-back-to-work-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you glare before settling down to answer the final question.

But when he caught her eye, she couldn't look away. He was clearly anxious about something, and it wasn't his exam. Ron didn't get this hung up about exams. He tilted his head ever so slightly to his left and Hermione followed his gaze. She gasped silently.

Harry was asleep?

How could he possibly fall asleep during an important examination like this? Granted, he was very tired and he could care less about History, so it wasn't as though he would want to take N.E.W.T level History anyway, but still. What was Harry thinking? It would not sit well with the review board that one of the students they were grading had the gall to sleep during an exam. It could affect the grading of all of his O.W.L.s! She had to think of a way to wake him up. She glanced over at Marchbanks, but he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. A movement from Ron's table caught her eye, and her eyes went back to him. He was shaking his head at her, and she frowned. Ron was clearly concerned about his friend, but it wasn't about him falling asleep during an exam. There was something else; she could tell even at this distance. She looked back at Harry again, and noticed that he did appear to be twitching sporatically. If he was sleeping, he wasn't sleeping very well at all.

Hermione jumped a foot when Harry suddenly let out a god-awful yell and tumbled out of his chair and onto the floor. "Harry!" she shrieked out while leaping to her feet. She know exactly what had happened; he must be having another one of those vision dreams, and now his scar was probably killing him. All of the students gaped openly as Harry writhed on the ground, a few other students rose, but only Ron started to move towards his friend. Hermione took one step before Marchbanks waved his hand at her to stay put, and she obeyed. Ron was not so politely pushed back into his seat by Marchbanks and Professor Tofty approached Harry. Harry appeared to have come to himself and was able to get to his feet. He was babbling incoherently, and by his pallor, Hermione could tell that this dream was the worst one yet. Her eyes instantly sought out Ron, who looked as though he wanted to follow Harry out, but was only restrained by Marchbanks' hand on his shoulder.

"You have five minutes remaining," Marchbanks called out. He then lowered down to whisper something to Ron. Ron looked only slightly appeased as he leaned back in his chair, fists clenched, prepared to spring up the moment that the exam was terminated. Hermione tried her best to answer the final question, but the words swarmed incomprehensibly on the parchment. She couldn't even think; she just had to get to Harry.

"Please put your quills down!" Hermione robotically obeyed the instructions for ending the examination, and the moment that they were released, she and Ron bolted for the door.

"What the hell happened?" Ron got out the second they were in the hallway.

"He must have had a dream," Hermione said anxiously, "A bad one at that, I've never heard him yell like that..."

"Me either," Ron said grimly, looking about the hall frantically. "Where do you think he went?"

"They might have made him go to the hospital wing," Hermione suggested.

"Let's go," Ron started to sprint towards the stairway.

"How did you know?" Hermione panted as she tried to keep up with Ron's long legs.

"What?"

"You knew that Harry wasn't just asleep, didn't you?" Hermione pressed.

"Well, yeah," Ron admitted sheepishly, "I dunno. I reckon from seeing him have the nightmares before..."

"Still," Hermione continued in amazement, "you were across the room..."

She trailed off when she spotted Harry at the top of the marble staircase they were barreling up. "Harry!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

Little did Hermione know that Harry's health was going to be the least of their problems.

**

Hermione didn't know at times why she allowed Harry to yell at her. She was a independent, forthright girl who shouldn't be asked to put up with her best friend shrieking in her face when she was just trying to help him. She would think that Harry would know that by now; she'd think that Harry knew that she would never ever try to hinder or hurt him in anyway, that she would always try to do what was best for him. So she shouldn't have to endure this. She had actually thought for a fleeting second that Harry would actually strike her, and Ron must have thought so too because his arms jerked as though he was about to restrain Harry from getting near her while she recoiled backwards a step. But Harry only kept on yelling, and ended up rounding on Ron too. She didn't know how she managed to come up with the plan to sneak into Umbridge's office when she was in such a state. But somehow she did, and now Harry was galloping off to retrieve the necessary supplies while she, Ginny, Luna, and Ron walked to the end of Umbridge's corridor.

"Why is he so upset about Stubby?" Luna asked dreamily.

The three of them ignored Luna once again as Ginny asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

"Harry had a dream about Sirius," Ron explained tersely. "Sirius was being tortured, and he wants to go help him, but Hermione doesn't think we should go until we're sure that it was real."

"It's the right thing to do, Ron!" Hermione snapped.

"I never said it wasn't!" Ron shot back.

"You never said it was!" Hermione exploded. "You just stood there and let Harry rail into me! You always take Harry's side over mine, Ron!"

"I don't always..."

"Shut up, you two!" Ginny yelled impatiently. "This is not the time!" She ushered them closer to the wall away from the hoardes of students. "We need a plan."

"We have a plan," Ron muttered sullenly. Hermione glared at him.

"We need a signal," Ginny corrected. "So Harry and Hermione know if someone is coming."

"How about singing 'Weasley is our King'," Hermione suggested caustically, her eyes shooting daggers at Ron. Even though the lyrics had been altered after Ron's brilliant playing in the Quidditch cup, Hermione knew Ron was still sensitive about the song.

"Ooo, I adore that song," Luna practically purred, smiling distantly before beginning to hum.

"Fine," Ginny said curtly, " 'Weasley is our King' it is." Ron rolled his eyes and shot Hermione yet another angry look, but before he could make a comment, Harry raced up.

"Got it," he panted. "Ready to go, then?"

"All right," whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth years passed them. "So Ron--you got and head Umbridge off...Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor...Harry and I will get the cloak on and wait until the coast is clear."

Ron, Ginny, and Luna all immediately strode away, and Hermione couldn't stop her eyes from lingering on Ron's vivid red hair as he disappeared at the end of the corridor. Be careful, she thought silently at him. He probably had one of the more dangerous jobs in this mission...if anyone got caught, it would be Ron since he would be at Umbridge's side...

But there was no time for this, Hermione reminded herself as she waited for the corridor to clear so she and Harry could began their portion of the operation. They finally managed to get into Umbridge's office without a hitch. She stood out of sight, scanning the grounds intently for an indication of anything going wrong while Harry threw his head into the green flames and yelled for Sirius. Hermione glanced over at him; it was so odd watching just Harry's headless body crouch there on the rug. She couldn't really make out what he was saying afterward, but it was obvious he was talking to somebody. She just really hoped that somebody was Sirius.

She bit her lip while her eyes roved around the room, alert for a sign of danger. Feeling quite unable to stand in the same place for any longer, Hermione began to pace around the room. She paused in front of the closed door to the office to contemplate if she should lock the door just in case, nervously tightening her grip around her wand. There was something about that door that made her very ill at ease. Squinting, Hermione leaned forward to inspect the wood paneling and doorknob. Her heart froze in her chest when she noticed that the brass handle was emitting a reddish glow sporatically, flashing like a warning light. Her mind automatically flipped to page 462 of her fourth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, the segment on Dark detection spells and products.

It was the Stealth Sensoring Spell.

Umbridge had to know they were here.

BANG

The door flung open with abrupt force, and the heavy oak wood slammed sharply into the side of Hermione's head, since she had still been unfortunately crouched over to inspect the door. Automatically, she stumbled backwards, hand going to her injured forehead, mind reeling. Dimly, she saw Umbridge snap her fingers and point at her while barreling past, but she didn't really care at the moment; her head was throbbing too much. It was rather difficult to think clearly with all the stars dancing across her vision, but she regained her senses quickly as she remembered the dire situation they were in...Umbridge was here, and Harry was in the fireplace...she had to warn him...

"Har..." The rest of her cry was successfully muffled by a big hand clapping over her mouth. Hermione had had hands clapped over her mouth before. Her mother had done it to her whenever she chattered to much as a child, Harry and Ron had both done it too whenever she spoke out of place or they were hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, but it had never really terrified her before. That is, until now. The pressure against her lips was almost unbearably tight, the fingers gripping her cheeks so firmly that she could scarcely breathe. Hermione was too busy struggling for air to put up much of a fight as she was pulled upwards into a standing position and forced against the wall, pinioned in place by the only the meaty hand across her face.

"Hello, Mudblood," Malfoy crooned maliciously. Millicent Bulstrode chucked appropriately, reminding Hermione strongly of Crabbe and Goyle's robotic laughter. She shook her head side to side to clear it, but Malfoy only pressed harder against her face. She had the insatiable urge to bite his pale fingers, but her attention was diverted by Umbridge dragging Harry out by his hair from the fireplace. She gasped as she jerked his head backwards quite forcefully and the expression on her grimly pleased face was almost satanic.

Umbridge hissed something to Harry, but then she raised her voice. "Take his wand," she barked. Malfoy immediately dropped his hold on Hermione and made it across the room in two long strides in his eagerness to take Harry Potter's wand away from him. Millicent obediently took Malfoy's place and firmly pinnoned Hermione against the wall before she could even try to get away. "Hers too," Hermione twisted her wrist in a vain attempt to make sure Millicent didn't get her wand, but it was no use. Her wand was quickly tucked into Millicent's pocket. The Slytherin was almost twice Hermione's size, but that didn't stop Hermione from continuing to struggle. She winced as Harry was thrown across the room, and slammed into Umbridge's desk. His eyes raised and caught on her for a brief second before focusing again on Umbridge. There was a slightly defeated look in his green eyes; for once, Harry Potter felt trapped.

The door jarred against Hermione once again as it was thrust open, and several more people entered the room. Or more like were forced into the room. Hermione renewed her efforts with fresh vigor when she realized their situation was even direr than she expected; they had caught the whole lot of them, plus Neville. She craned her neck, trying to make sure that they were uninjured. She was quite worried about Neville, who was being gripped so tightly about the neck in a stranglehold that she thought that he might actually be strangled at any second by Crabbe's fat arm. Ginny and Luna appeared to be fine, on the other hand. Ginny was still putting up a good fight against the Slytherin who was almost a foot taller than her, and Luna...well, Luna was just being Luna by simply staring out of the window with a bemused expression on her face. Hermione turned her attention to Ron last, and her anxiety mounted. His lip had a nasty looking gash on it, and Warrington had him pinned in a tight half-nelson that looked quite painful. Hermione didn't think it was a good idea to have the boy who had actually threatened to send Ron to the hospital wing just because they played on different Quidditch teams hold Ron in that sharp of a vise. She also didn't fancy the idea a bit that they actually had the audacity to gag a student; honestly, you'd think that they were prisoners in this school. If Millicent even tried to shove material down her throat, Hermione was prepared to take the drastic actions she should have taken three years ago with Millicent put her in a headlock during Dueling Club, and those drastic actions included clawing, spitting, and even biting if necessary.

Fortunately for the Slytherin, Millicent didn't try anything, but that didn't help matters a bit. Hermione was still trapped, although she had a brief glimpse of hope when her toe connected with Millicent's knee, Millicent had simply grunted and managed to turn around so that her back was to Hermione, hands still imprisoning Hermione's wrists. There didn't appear to be any hope for their escape. Even with Professor Snape arrived, Hermione couldn't tell if he had taken Harry's warning seriously, although she was quite relieved that Snape had refused to give Umbridge anymore Veritaserum. Umbridge absolutely could not find out about Sirius. She didn't know why Harry didn't just lie or make up some sort of story to tell Umbridge about why he had been in the office. He was probably just making her even more suspicious by refusing to answer. Although Hermione knew that Harry was risking expulsion with the lie (well, they all were), if he was so desperate to get to Sirius, he should just lie and get the hell out of that office. Umbridge was looking particularly nasty at the moment, and even the pink cardigan and bow seemed sinister.

Snape and Umbridge were still arguing and Harry finally shouted out clues in his desperation about why he was here. Hermione knew that Snape understood, and she only prayed that he would go do something about it. The only problem was now Umbridge knew that something foul was definitely afoot, that this wasn't a childish prank like releasing a niffler. Now the moment Snape left, Hermione knew that Umbridge would round on Harry again and continue to interrogate him about why he had broken into her office, and there wasn't a bloody thing she could do to help him since she was stuck here behind this stupid ape of a girl.

Or was there?

Hermione finally realized that Luna's luminous eyes were resting on her, and she returned the gaze. Luna smiled at her before looking out the window again. Hermione followed Luna's eyes and her gaze fell onto the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. God, if she could only be out of this stupid office, and outdoors so they could find Sirius if they had to, or if Harry had found out Sirius was safe, she could really fancy some fresh air; Millicent's odor wasn't particularly pleasant to the senses. The treetops swayed slightly in the breeze, or maybe not, Hermione realized. It could be Grawp out there, shaking limbs from side to side as he struggled to free himself from his own chains. It was horribly wrong to think this at the moment, but the image of Umbridge screaming in terror at the sight of a sixteen-foot high giant actually caused a faint smile to spread across her face.

Wait a minute...

Luna was looking at her again, and just nodded once serenely.

But I can't take her to Grawp, Hagrid would be in even greater trouble, even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to get him out of that mess...

The door snapped closed as Snape whisked out of the room.

There are other creatures in the Forest...

"Very well," Umbridge said, and she pulled out her wand.

I've got to get her outside, but how am I going to do that?

"Very well...I am left with no alternative..."

What would Umbridge want to hear?

"This is more than a matter of school discipline..."

Why would she think we would be in her office?

"This is an issue of Ministry security...yes...yes..."

Hermione straightened up, eyes gleaming.

"You are forcing me, Potter...I do not want to, but sometimes circumstances justify the use...I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice..."

Hermione's eyes narrowed as she ceased to struggle against Millicent. What was she going on about?

"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue,"

All rational thoughts flew out of Hermione's head.

"No!" shrieked Hermione. "Professor Umbridge--it's illegal--the Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!"

But Umbridge took no notice. Ron was fighting harder than ever to get free and his grimace deepened. Ginny for once looked absolutely terrified, Luna continued to look quite unfazed, and Neville was still an alarming shade of purple. Harry gazed defiantly back at Umbridge, daring her to even try to curse him. Her wand was roaming up and down as she tried to find the perfect spot to administer the curse. It didn't help matters that Umbridge just admitted that she had sent the dementors to Little Whinging; it meant that she had no qualms about putting Harry's life in danger. She had done it once, and she'd do it again if it meant protecting her precious Ministry.

Hermione managed to collect her wits and she took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Cru..."

"NO!" shouted Hermione in a cracked voice. "No--Harry--Harry, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!"

"We'll have to Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's...what's the point...?"

At that point, Hermione was eternally grateful that she was such good friends with Ginny Weasley. When they had shared a room the summer before forth year for that week, Hermione had asked Ginny one night about how she managed to put up with Fred and George playing pranks all the time. Ginny had simply explained to her that she got used to it after a while, that it was rather amusing if you didn't take it too seriously, and besides, Fred and George rarely played tricks on her anymore. She elaborated to explain that she had a routine she performed whenever a joke was played at her expense: pout, whine, and finally cry. The tricky part was that Ginny usually wasn't emotionally affected in the slightest by the twins' antics so she had to learn how to fake cry in order to convince her parents that she was genuinely upset. Her mother would then scold them for making their little sister cry, and after putting up with this for quite a bit, the twins found it much easier to just leave their sister be and focus on Percy. Hermione had been rather impressed, and Ginny had offered to teach her how to look like you were crying when you really weren't. All you had to do was scrunch up your face almost painfully tight, act like you were trying to catch your breath while letting out some guttural sounds at the back of your throat, and most importantly, keep your hands over your face. Not only did that shield the fact that no tears were sliding down your cheeks, but it also left you free to squeeze your eyes tightly so if anyone did happen to get a glimpse at your face, your eyes had some moisture in them and your face would be redder than normal.

Hermione hadn't practiced the fake cry in ages, so she began rather quietly to "cry" and leaned against Millicent's robes. To her amazement, Millicent instantly ducked away from her; she had to remember that trick for the next time an insensitive Slytherin was squashing her against the wall.

"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge. "Little Miss Question-All is going to give us some answers! Come on, then, girl, come on!"

"Er--my--nee--no!"

Hermione disguised her small laugh as another noisy sob. She should have known that Ron would be easy to convince even though she would think that he would know how she really cried from all the times she went on crying on his shoulder. She snuck a quick peek out between her fingers. Sure enough, Ron was staring at her with horrified, concerned eyes as he continued to struggle. Don't worry, she thought at him, trust me. Ron looked only slightly mollified, but then again, why should he; it was as though he could hear her. Neville was also gaping at her, but then again, he could hardly breathe so maybe the oxygen deprivation was causing him not to understand. The others however appeared to know that something was up. Luna was waiting patiently as if she knew what was coming. Harry looked angry and fearful, but also slightly confused as if he couldn't place why she was acting like this or why she was crying yet no tears were on her face. Ginny was staring at her as if she had never seen Hermione before in her life but with a small trace of recognition in her eyes; she knew that Hermione was using her routine. But no one appeared to know why Hermione was putting on this act or why she was going to tell Umbridge everything. Honestly, did her friends really think she was going to rat them out?

Umbridge's stubby fingers were suddenly round her shoulders and Hermione was pushed down into the chintz chair. She huddled over to continue hiding her not-so-tearful face while Umbridge bent down to turn the interrogation towards her.

"Now then...with whom was Potter communicating just now?"

"Well," gulped Hermione into her hands, "well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore..."

The shock palpating from her friends was practically tangible, and Hermione could only hope that Umbridge and her cronies didn't notice. The struggling sounds had ceased, so Hermione assumed that both Ron and Ginny had stopped trying to free themselves. There was no reaction from the others that revealed that they knew that something was wrong about Hermione's story, so she continued on with the lie she had thought up. Umbridge had also fancied the thought of Dumbledore creating this "army" of his students that he would use to take over the Ministry, so why would Hermione want to squash Umbridge's dreams? Hermione would never want to prove Umbridge wrong, now would she?

Hermione had played her cards well. Umbridge was a woman who adored being right all the time, so Hermione simply told her what she wanted to hear. And Umbride fell for it hook, line, and sinker. She had been worried when Malfoy had tried to come along with them, but luckily she had managed to defer that situation from occurring. She had rather hoped that all of them would be allowed to go show Umbridge the "weapon", but she hadn't been surprised it hadn't worked out that way. Her eyes caught onto Ron's blue ones, and once again, she was taken about how expressive they were. She also wasn't used to having someone so worried about her well-being. Well, Ron's reaction when he had found her Unpetrified in the hospital wing second-year had been rather strong, in fact, that had been the one of the beginning flashes of confusing adoration she had had for Ron. But that was besides the point; the point was that no one in the world looked after her like Ron Weasley, or rather, no one expressed their concern as openly as Ron. And while she loved that about him and it was one of the many things that she loved about that prat, it still caught her off guard. She didn't feel worthy of such attention. Besides, they had a job to do, Hermione reminded herself as she got herself back on track. Umbridge was now jerking her wand towards the door, urging her and Harry to lead her to Dumbledore's weapon. Hermione began to walk out of the room, but kept her eyes on Ron the entire time. For a brief second, they flickered towards Warrington and Malfoy; both were grinning maliciously and completely oblivious to the fact that they were about to be ambushed. Ron caught on instantly and grinned.

Yes, Ron, you can finally get them back for all the terrible things they've ever done for you.

Ginny caught on to the nonverbal communication occurring between the two, and nodded slightly. She had long ceased struggling, which was much to her advantage. The towering Slytherin had inadvertently loosened her grip on the younger girl, facilitating Ginny's escape. Luna also appeared to be unusually alert, and Hermione was certain that Luna's unsuspecting captor would not anticipate Luna's attack. Neville was still struggling to get air into his strained lungs, so he was quite unprepared for an escape, but Hermione knew that Ron especially would do everything in his power to make sure Neville got out safely. Her eyes inadvertently returned to the object of her affection, and it was a good thing they did. His eyebrows were slightly knitted with confusion, which wasn't unusual, but this time it was justified. Hermione knew instantly what he was thinking about; he had no idea where she was taking Umbridge so how was he to find her after they got free? Umbridge was waddling behind her, so she couldn't risk mouthing anything to him. Desperately, she twitched her neck to the side, rubbing it as if she had injured it some how, and sticking out her pointer finger at the same moment. Her finger pointed directly at the window that clearly revealed a lovely view of the gloomy forest. At this point, Hermione was so close to the door that she could no longer look at Ron without attracting suspicion, so she could only pray that he had caught her signal. She couldn't risk looking over her shoulder at them as she walked out of the office. Her hand dropped from her shoulder as the door banged shut behind them. She bit her lip slightly, but kept her stride long and steady; Umbridge couldn't know how frightened she was not only for Ron and everyone still in the office, but for Harry and herself. She just hoped that those centaurs would be true to their word and not harm the innocent. Despite her doubts, Hermione thrust her head higher in the air and marched purposedly onwards. They would get through this, she told herself determinedly, they had to. They had been in worse situations before...okay, maybe not, but it wasn't like things could get any worse.

Could they?

**

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

Oh, yes, things could get much worse.

Hermione's muscles all seized up with tension at the sound of the drawling voice coming from behind them. Robed dark figures were Apparating in with alarming speed, strategically placing themselves on their left and right sides. She instinctively took a step backwards, now almost right behind Harry as wands were snapped up in their direction. They were trapped.

"To me, Potter," repeated Lucius Malfoy as he held up his hand palm up.

Oh God, no, Hermione's stomach twisted at the sight of Draco Malfoy's father. She never admitted this, but the man frightened her more than she cared to admit. She knew she'd never forget the way his eyes had sidled over and appraised her parents coldly on that day in Flourish and Blotts the summer before second year, or the glare she had received when he had seen her at the Quidditch World Cup. Her eyes darted around, mind racking desperately to come up with a plan, but for once, her quick mind was unable to scheme up anything. She would think that after surviving this much madness to get here: battling centaurs, Grawp, the thestrals, sneaking through all the rooms in the Department of Magic that she would be more prepared for the fight that was about to ensue. But she was stuck; she was undeniably terrified for her and her friends' lives and she was trapped.

"To me," said Malfoy yet again.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry said.

Laughter echoed throughout the room. Hermione now thought for sure that she was going to faint. She knew this had been a bad idea, it was a trap, it was a trap for Harry, they had knew he'd come to rescue Sirius. And now all six of them were in the Death Eaters' clutches.

"The Dark Lord always knows!" a cloaked woman hooted as she laughed louder than the rest. Hermione couldn't help glaring at her, although she knew it was probably not a good idea to piss off any more Death Eaters than necessary.

"Always," echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

Prophecy? Hermione glanced at the orb with Harry's name on it that he was still clutching in his hand. Of course, that must be a recording of a prophecy made about Harry and Voldemort. No wonder Voldemort wanted it so badly...her heart starting beating faster. Was that dusty ball contain the answers that Harry had been seeking? If they figured out how to use the orb, could they finally discover why Voldemort wanted Harry dead? She risked a glance over at Ron, and she could tell that he was processing the same thing. Their eyes locked for a moment before both refocused on Harry.

"I want to know where Sirius is!"

"I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to Harry's left. From the way that Ron was trembling with rage, Hermione was worried that she may have to restrain him from retaliating against this horrible woman who seemed hell-bent on ridiculing Harry's persistence. The group had closed in so they were only feet away from all of them. If they sent a spell at them, there wouldn't be time to duck or get out of the way.

"You've got him," Harry forged on, but Hermione could tell that he was starting to figure it out. "He's here. I know he is."

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," the woman mocked in a voice that was so annoying that Hermione was tempted to pull her wand out.

Ron obviously felt the same way, for he started to stir. Hermione quickly shook her head as firmly as possible since she was trembling with fear.

Harry noticed too. "Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet"

Not yet? For the first time since she had heard Lucius Malfoy's drawl, she felt a faint stirring a hope from the pit of the stomach. Did Harry have a plan? She knew she was considered the clever one, but in situations like this, she and Ron had always yielded to Harry's decisions. She and Ron exchanged another quick meaningful look--they were ready for anything.

"You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!" The woman screeched after letting out a raucous scream of laughter.

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I know Sirius is here," said Harry, "I know you've got him!"

Damn it, Harry, Hermione thought desperately--he's not here.

The Death Eater just kept on laughing.

"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," said Malfoy, "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."

"Go on, then," said Harry, that determined look in his eyes that Hermione had seen on several occasions before as he raised his wand to chest height. Hermione and the others quickly followed suit.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.

To Hermione's great surprise, Harry laughed.

"Yeah, right!" Harry said. "I give you this--prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"

Harry had yet to finish speaking when Hermione saw the female Death Eater who had been mocking Harry this whole time's wand point towards him. "Accio Proph..."

Hermione was about to scream a warning, or shoot her own spell, or something, but Harry as usual was one step ahead of her. "Protego!"

She breathed a sigh of relief as the spell deflected off the shield he just produced, and although the glass sphere did slip in his grip, Harry managed to cling on.

"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," Bellatrix said, her mad eyes glaring dangerously at Harry. Hermione knew that she really really did not like this woman. "Very well, then..."

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it!"

Smash it? Hermione's eyes locked on the orb once again. They really wanted this thing, what the hell was it?

Bellatrix (who now Hermione remembered was Sirius' cousin Bellatrix Lestrange) stepped forward and pulled off her hood, revealing a gaunt and skull-like face that was nevertheless glowing with a feverish and fantastical delight.

"You need more persuasion?" she said, breathing rapidly, "Very well--take the smallest one. Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."

Ginny, Hermione's heart constricted at the thought of Ginny being tortured. Without even consulting the others, they closed in around Ginny. But Harry reacted first, and stepped in front of Ginny, the prophecy clutched at his chest.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?" Harry had struck a nerve, and everyone knew it. Bellatrix stared at Harry with pure hatred. "So, what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"

That's right, Harry, keep talking to them, Hermione thought, looking about for some sort of inspiration. Distract them while we try to figure out what to do. She studied Harry's profile, and her heart sank. Harry didn't know what to do either.

"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, her grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."

"Nope, not jesting," said Harry, "How come Voldemort wants it?"

Don't be too flip, Harry. Don't make them mad. Control your temper for once this year.

"You dare to speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol..."

"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare to speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare..."

Oh, no, this wasn't looking good, Harry keep your mouth shut....

"Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Harry recklessly. Hermione couldn't help emitting a little moan; now he's done it. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle--or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"

"STUPEF..."

"NO!"

Hermione poised herself to attack if necessary, but Malfoy actually ended up deflecting the red light from striking Harry. The light ended up hitting a shelf and knocking over several of the glass orbs. She frowned as she watched pearly white figures unfurling themselves from the broken glass. She strained her ears to listen, but she couldn't make out many words since Malfoy and Bellatrix were currently engaged in a shouting match.

Harry stiffened ever so slightly, so surreptitiously that if she didn't know him for five years, she wouldn't have noticed. From the change in Ron's posture, she could tell that he had noticed it too. But there was a definite change in Harry's stance, which meant that something had altered in Harry's mind, whether it was for their benefit or not, Hermione didn't know. What is it, she thought desperately at the back of Harry's head.

"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," Harry said

"Do not play games with us, Potter," said Malfoy.

"I'm not playing games," said Harry.

But he was. Hermione inhaled sharply as Harry's foot abruptly pressed down on her toes. He had been carefully moving his foot sideways to find someone, anyone to help him. Which could only mean one thing: Harry finally had a plan.

"What?" she whispered.

"Dumbledore never told you that the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" said Malfoy sneeringly.

The way his shoulders rose sharply, the widening of his green eyes, and his sudden riveting of his attention on Malfoy told Hermione that Harry was quite taken with what Malfoy had just said. "I--what? What about my scar?"

"What?" whispered Hermione more urgently behind him. He couldn't focus on this now, he could ask Dumbledore later. Right now they needed to get out of here now.

"Can this be?" said Malfoy.

The Death Eaters were laughing again, and Harry used the opportunity to hiss at her, "Smash shelves..."

"Dumbledore never told you?" Malfoy repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why..."

"...when I say go..." Harry continued.

"...you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording..."

"Did he?" said Harry.

Harry was going to keep distracting them, now's your chance, Hermione thought, wondering how she was going to convey the message to everyone else. But Ron knew that something was up, and had positioned himself so he was standing almost directly behind her and jabbed her in the back to let her know he was ready for instructions. Luckily, she was almost right behind Harry and Harry was more than a few inches taller than her so her lips were safely hidden from view.

"Smash the shelves when he says to," Hermione whispered.

Ron didn't act like he had heard her, but she sensed him elbowing Ginny. She glanced over at Luna and Neville, and after making sure all the Death Eaters were focusing on Harry, she whispered the same message to them. She gripped her wand tighter and watched Harry carefully for the signal.

"So he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" said Harry, "Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it--and Bode?"

"Very good, Potter, very good..." said Malfoy slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell..."

"NOW!" yelled Harry.

"REDUCTO!" Hermione bellowed along with the four others, somehow all of them miraculously aimed their wands in different directions so flying glass and indistinct figures were everywhere, voices echoing across the room along with the sound of breaking glass and wood.

"RUN!" Harry yelled. Before she knew it, he had grabbed her robe sleeve and was pulling her forwards. She threw both arms up to cover her face as some of the upper shelves, after swaying for several moments, finally fell. Hermione could barely see, and she was most grateful that Harry was dragging her along. Several cries of pain, some of them her own, echoed across the room. What was going on?

She gasped as an arm stretched past her to roughly grab Harry's shoulder, and she just reacted, aiming her wand directly at the arm. "Stupefy!" The hand dropped and Harry continued to pull her along the way.

He dropped his grip though when they reached end of the row and broke out into a run. She could hear Neville panting behind her, and she shouted encouragingly at him over her shoulder. Harry reached the door and yanked it open, quickly slamming it behind her and Neville.

"Colloportus!" she gasped quickly so the door sealed itself. She fought the urge to lean against the door with relief. They had made it.

"Where--where are the others?" gasped Harry.

Hermione's heart froze in her chest. Oh God, no. Ron, Ginny, and Luna were still out there, quite alone.

"They must have gone the wrong way!" whispered Hermione.

"Listen!" whispered Neville.

Harry pressed his ear against the door and listened carefully while Hermione just stood back, trying to stop herself from trembling so much. Where were they? They had to be all right, they just had to be, she couldn't live with herself if anything happened to Luna, who had tried to help her and Ron get together, or to Ginny, her one good female friend, and to Ron, who was...Hermione swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in her throat. Ron was everything.

"What do we do?" she finally asked Harry, praying that he would have another idea.

"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," said Harry. "Let's get away from this door..."

All three took off at a quick but quiet run towards the circular hallway at the far end. They had almost made it when they heard the crash against the door she had just charmed.

"Stand aside! Alohomora!"

Instinctively, the three of them dived under the desks. Hermione held her breath as she watched two pairs of Death Eater's feet walking rapidly through the room.

"They might have run straight through to the hall,"

"Check under the desks,"

Hermione gripped her wand even tighter. This was it.

"STUPEFY!" Harry shouted.

Hermione crawled out from under the desk to see what had happened and, if necessary, to help Harry Stun the remaining Death Eaters. Harry had managed to hit one of the Death Eaters, but the other one had leapt to the side. And now he had his wand pointed right at her. His lips were moving before she could even get her wand up.

"Avada..."

Hermione froze in horror as Harry quite abruptly launched himself out and tackled the Death Eaters by the knees. She ducked reflexively, but it wasn't necessary; Harry's attack had caused the Killing Curse to go quite awry. She flinched as a desk overturned and Neville leapt to his feet.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Hermione's heart soared for a brief instant as the Death Eater's wand went flying away from him, but sank in the next. So had Harry's. Harry and the Death Eater barreled themselves towards their wands, which had landed near to the entrance of the Hall. But the Death Eater was in the front, Harry at his heels. Neville sprinted as fast as he could after them, horror written all over his face at what he had done.

"Get out of the way, Harry!" yelled Neville.

Hermione finally managed to get to her feet despite her trembling from the near brush with death and took off after them.

"STUPEFY!"

Neville's aim was off once again, and the spell hit a cabinet, spilling hourglasses all over the place. But oddly, the cabinet jumped back up on the wall, repaired, but then broke again.

Hermione didn't have time to contemplate the bizarre thing she had just witnessed. The Death Eater had retrieved his wand, and Harry was ducking behind another desk. But Harry still didn't have his wand.

"STUPEFY!" she screamed.

The Death Eater lurched backwards and almost as if in slow motion, collapsed backwards. But another bizarre thing occurred: instead of his head hitting the glass bell jar that was lying behind him, his head slipped through the surface, and he simply lay there, his head inside the glass.

"Accio wand!" cried Hermione. Harry's wand darted to her hand and she tossed it over at him as he got up from the desk he had ducked underneath.

"Thanks," he said, "right, let's get out of..."

"Look out!" said Neville.

Hermione along with the others whirled around with her wand outstretched, but her jaw simply dropped as she watched dumbstruck at the man she had just Stunned.

His head was shrinking rapidly, becoming balder and balder, and his cheeks were smooth, and his long head of hair had become a peach fuzz. He was a baby again, but only the head. It was quite frightening to see a baby's head sitting atop of full-grown man's body. Her eyes darted over the cabinet that was mending itself over and over again only to break again. A slight comprehension passed over her. Those weren't just ordinary hourglasses, she herself knew about those better than anyone...

"It's time," said Hermione in an awestruck voice. "Time..."

A loud shout, crash, and scream from a nearby room ripped her away from her awe. Oh God no. Not them, not...

"RON?" Harry yelled, "GINNY? LUNA?"

Harry had turned away from the Death Eater, but before she could look in the direction he was, she noticed a more pressing problem.

"Harry!" she screamed.

The Death Eater had freed his head from the jar, his baby's head sitting and crying atop the man's body, his arms thrashing about and narrowly missing Harry, who had to duck. Harry's wand swung towards the Death Eater, but Hermione instinctively grabbed him.

"You can't hurt a baby!"

She knew it was ridiculous for saying it, but she knew she was right. Harry seemed to agree or didn't want to take the time to argue, for all of them heard footsteps rushing towards them. Their shouts for Ron must have alerted the Death Eaters.

"Come on!" Harry said again.

All three of them ran as fast as they could towards the door furthest away from the noises. But the door they were running towards was suddenly filled with two Death Eaters that took off towards them. Harry veered off to the left, and she and Neville followed him into another room, a small dark room and managed to shut the door.

"Collo..." Hermione began, but the door burst open before she could finish the incantation.

"IMPEDIMENTA!"

Hermione was thrown through the air, and with a sickening thump, landed onto a bookshelf and she threw up her arms to protect herself from the assault of books that rained down on her. I always liked books, she thought dimly...

Snap out of it, a voice at the back of her head ordered her. Hermione shook off her dizziness and her eyes quickly sought out Harry. He had been thrown into a stone wall, and from the glassy look in his eye, he was too bewildered to move.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled one of the Death Eaters.

No, Hermione thought desperately, they can't find us, they'll take Harry to Voldemort, I've got to do something...

"IN AN OFFICE OFF..."

"Silencio!" Hermione cried as memories from Charms class pervaded her thoughts. She could see through the mask that the Death Eater was trying to continue to yell for help, but no sound could come out. She couldn't help smiling slightly as the second Death Eater exasperatedly pushed his silenced friend to the side.

"Petrificus Totatlus!" Harry shouted, incapacitating the second Death Eater.

Hermione's smile grew wider; all three of them should know that curse well--she had used it on Neville in first-year so she, Harry, and Ron could get to the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Well done, Ha..." she began happily.

But that's when the searing pain ripped through her chest, taking her breath away. The Death Eater she had silenced had made some sort of slashing movement, and a purple flame flew from the wand tip and exploded against her chest.

"Oh!" she said in surprise, and she was more shocked to discover how faint her voice was. But then again, the heat that had centered in her chest had spread to cover her entire her body, engulfing her with a burning, horrendous sensation that seemed to eat away at her very flesh, turning her bones into jelly, her nerves were frying, her brain was rapidly shutting down. All she could process was that whatever was happening to her hurt, hurt very badly, and she just wanted it to stop, why wouldn't it stop, she couldn't take it anymore, no one could take this much pain anymore, this was it, this was the end, she was going die ...

She didn't even realize that she couldn't remain on her feet and she was crumpling to the ground until her head banged against the stone floor. Now her vision was being obscured with blinding white-hot mist, her ears were ringing, her heart was hammering so quickly that she thought her chest was going to explode. She had never hurt this much in her life, and it scared her. She was going to die.

The last thing she was able to process before the white cloud clouding her vision switched to black was Harry screaming her name in such a way that she knew he knew that he would never see her alive again.